Friday November 2, 2018 –
Here are the new and noteworthy stories we have been following this week.
Billionaire backs Amsterdam to take financial crown
Tony Ressler, co-founder of Ares and Apollo thinks that Amsterdam is well positioned to take over from London as the new global financial capital.
https://www.ft.com/content/1d11b524-dab0-11e8-8f50-cbae5495d92b
Popular Bank Announces Partnership to Expand Small Business Financing Solutions with Fintech Provider Biz2Credit
Popular Bank will start using Biz2Credit’s technology platform to digitize and facilitate the origination of small business and commercial loans and lines of credit.
British app bank Monzo hits unicorn status after latest fund raising
Monzo raised 85 million pounds in its latest funding round and now has a valuation of 1 billion pounds.
Card Transaction Growth Lifts Mastercard Revenue, Profit
Mastercard reported Q3 profits of $1.9 billion up 33% from the same quarter a year ago driven by strong volume growth across most global regions.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/transaction-growth-lifts-mastercard-revenue-profit-1540903666
Bitcoin Turns 10: Still Not All Grown Up
Bitcoin was meant to be a payments network but that is not what it became.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/bitcoin-turns-10-still-not-all-grown-up-1540987201
The Fed Is Relaxing Banking Rules. What Goodies Are the Banks Getting?
The Federal Reserve has proposed loosening rules for banks with $100 billion to $700 billion in assets.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/31/business/dealbook/fed-banking-regulation.html
Western Union and Amazon to Launch New Way to Pay
Western Union and Amazon are launching a new service that allows international shoppers to pay in-person and in local currency for their online purchases at Western Union agent locations.
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181031005237/en/Western-Union-Amazon-Launch-New-Pay
ALL-NEW ICBA THINKTECH ACCELERATOR
The ICBA is partnering with The Venture Center to launch the ICBA ThinkTech Accelerator, a community bank-focused fintech accelerator program.
https://www.icba.org/solutions/fintech-guide
Walmart Files Lawsuit Against Credit-Card Issuer Synchrony Financial
Walmart is alleging that some of Synchrony’s underwriting standards caused it financial harm and is seeking about $800 million in damages.
A Peter Thiel-backed fintech that aims to be ‘a mixture of Venmo, Zelle, Mint and Chase’ is launching next year in the US
N26 is expanding its mobile banking services into the US market sometime in 2019.
https://www.businessinsider.com/n26-launching-in-us-in-2019-2018-10
